Our athletic club swimming pool is a warm 79-degrees. The English Channel is a cold 58-degrees. That is a 20-degree difference that we will have to get used to. The human body is amazing and it can get used to anything, provided that we become acclimatized to the cold.

As part of my acclimitization I swam in the 45-degree Atlantic Ocean this weekend. You see, my two good friends Rick and Carla live smack-dab on the ocean, so my training was a great excuse to visit and spend some time with them in their home. I was the only swimmer on the beach and the fisherman thought I was bonkers. Truth be told, with the wetsuit it wasn’t all that bad. My core stayed warm and my cognition was clear (cold water sometimes prevents us humans from thinking straight). Here are some pictures of me and my good friends.

Next weekend I will try the same swims without the wetsuit — such swims have been done by our friend (Mark Robson) for several weeks. He is also training for the English Channel swim.

Everyone wants a healthy lifestyle. There are new trends that help a healthy lifestyle fit into our day-to-day. I put together a list of what I think are THE leading-edge fitness trends; and just for fun I put them to the ABCs. I am involved in most of these trends, but not all (there are 7 that I’m not involved in). I will let you all postulate in the comments which of the ABCs I do not do.

A for Adventure races - like 10 Degrees!
B for Balance training (taichi, yoga and pilates)
C for Creatine
D for Dry-land training for swimmers, or the reverse
E for Eating breakfast - eating early makes you thin at night
F for Fixed-gear bicycles - brakes are for flakes
G for Google map your next run
H for Halfsizes - restaurant portions are twice the FDA recommendation
I for Intense workouts trumping long workouts
J for Juice bars
K for Ketone breath avoidance
L for Lactive threshold (LT) training
M for Mind/body exercise (yoga, tai chi, and qigong)
N for Navy Seal bootcamp-style training
O for Online videoconferencing allows group training at home
P for Power meters for bikes
Q for Quest-based adventures (7 Summits, et al)
R for Recovery drinks
S for Stability balls
T for Thule roof racks to bring your kit with you
U for Underwater MP3 players for swimming/surfing
V for Video analysis packages for bike fits like Dartfish
W for Wrist computers to track workouts
X for Xtreme sports
Y for Yoga
Z for Zucchini

The bike portion of our 2008 10 Degrees adventure in Europe will be supported by a logistics van. It recently occurred to us that A) we’ll need a spare bike on that van, and B) we’ll need a rack on our van for that bike and storage for spare wheels, luggage, large tubs of BodyGlide, etc. How in the world are we going to fit all that kit in that van? Enter Thule!

Thule makes roof racks and external modular storage for vehicles (they are the world’s biggest). And they’re Swedish, so you know, they make pretty stuff. Today Adam and I are driving up to Connecticut to visit Thule’s US HQ. We’re going up to ask advice on how to best equip our logistics van. We’ll let you know how those discussions go!

Ohh yah, totally wanted to share this with you. Check out this viral video created by Thule Marketing. This guy totally geeks out on Thule.

Olympic gold-medal-winner Ryan Lochte shares tips with us in a New York Times article on swimming. Some of it’s tips include:

1. Incorporate competition and goal-setting into your routine. You don’t necessarily have to sign up for races, but aim to reach the far wall a smidgen faster than you did the day before, or try to break a minute in the 100-meter freestyle, a good benchmark for speed.
2. Swim large distances. He swims 3-5 miles per day
3. Streamline your stroke. Ryan swims 15 meters underwater after each flip turn to focus on being hydrodynamic. “I work a lot on staying high in the water, not fighting the water, moving with the water,”
4. Incorporate dry-land exercises. Before every pool session, Lochte (below right) and his Florida teammates pass around the medicine ball, do multiple sets of push-ups and 500 abdominal crunches.

A related NYT article is here: Coach’s Corner

Lauren wanted a goal to motivate her training, but there were no running events near her at a time that worked for her. So we hosted our own half-marathon for her! This post is about how we organized our own super-classy half-marathon race for less money than it would have cost to enter an organized event.

Step 1: Organize a fan base.
20 minutes on the telephone.
Lauren asked her good friend MacLean to run with her. My Ironman friend Jonathan volunteered to ride bikes with me to setup refreshment stations and guide the runners.

Step 2: Buy supplies.
20 minutes shopping time.
1- Cap gun & noise makers
2- GU hydration/gels & dixie cups. 1 gel + 2 cups per 45-minutes
3- Face sponges (not from the sink!) in discarded Chinese delivery food container
4- Chalk for making sidewalk cheers
5- Knee brace, just in case
6- Finish line: orange crape paper, collapsible tent pole, 72 balloons, scotch tape
7- Map of event, printed using Google Pedometer. Here’s our link.
8- Ice cream for post-race party
9- Replica runner “chips”, to mimic the RFID tracking chips used at organized races

Step 3: Build finish line
2 hours assembly time.
Blow-up balloons. Find a flexible pole that works (I used a tent pole from a Mountain Hardwear tent because it is light and has a natural bend at the top). Scotch tape balloons to the pole. The result is pretty fabulous and eye-catching.

Step 4: Start runners, guide runners, refresh runners and CHEER!
2 hours during the race.
The race began with a cap gun and a crape paper. Jonathan and I biked ahead and every mile or so offered refreshments and cheers. We had water and GU hydration juices. At mile 8 we offered GU and sponges to wash the salt from their faces. At the end of the race we held the balloon finish line and they broke through the crepe paper. It was all pretty rad.

Good Cheers: “Yeaaah Lauren & MacLean!”, “Looking good!”, “Yippee!”. The louder the better.

Bad Cheers (aka. cheers to avoid): “You are almost there!”, “Right around the corner!”, “Just about finished!”, “You are not going to make it!”, and booing, hissing, or cursing.

Step 5: Host post-race party
We kicked it Ben & Jerry’s style.
—————–

In the end… Lauren and McLean finished the half-mile with 9:24 minute miles, which is pretty fast! The whole thing cost around $20 ($35 including the ice cream), which is less than the entrance price for most half-marathons.

Do different… If I had it to do over again I’d involve music from a boom box and bib numbers.

Upside… It was almost more fun to host our own event than to participate in an organized event. Organizing our own meant we could pick the best route and the best weather day.

Full resolution images are here.

Training to swim the English Channel is no joke. We swim many hours every day. It’s important to keep our swimming regimen fresh. Here are some of the tips from Adam and I to keep your swim workout lively.

10 tips to liven-up your (crusty old) swim workout:

1. Listen to music while swimming. We like the waterproof mp3 player called Swimp3.
2. Eat a mid-swim snack. I swim harder if I have a delicious mid-swim snack. We like bananas and Gu Energy Gel.
3. Bring toys. Is it just me or are swim hand paddles a ton of fun?! I feel like a speed racer when I use them. We like the stuff from Tyr.
4. Count your laps. We like this simple little $24 lap counter from SportCount.
5. Vary that workout. Here are 50 workouts to test out.
6. Bring a friend. I swim harder and longer if Adam, Lauren or Jenn is swimming with me. Or, if you’re me you can even be so lucky as to meet your girlfriend in the pool!
7. Join a team. I joined the Penn Masters Swim Club and is has been a lot of fun.
8. Go outside. There are great outdoor swim places near Philadelphia. Be mindful of the water temperatures.
9. Get a coach. Improving your technique gives you something to think about. We sought advice from the Head Coach of Penn’s Varsity Swim Team.
10. Be held accountable. Tell your significant other and family how you plan to train. They will keep you on track. I can’t tell you how many times this has been the only thing that got me out of bed at 630AM!

Hope this helps. Have a good workout!